Statehouse Insider: Madigan’s view of governors

House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN, D-Chicago, made an appearance at Elmhurst College last week. He spoke and took questions from the audience for over an hour. He did it with the news media present.

House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN, D-Chicago, made an appearance at Elmhurst College last week. He spoke and took questions from the audience for over an hour. He did it with the news media present.

For Madigan, this was borderline extraordinary. It would be interesting to tally the previous occasions he’s spent speaking before the media and see how many months’ worth it would take to add up to an hour.

Madigan touched on a number of topics during that hour, ranging from the budget to pensions to gambling. His host, former Rep. LEE DANIELS, R-Elmhurst, himself speaker from 1995-97, asked Madigan for his impressions of the various governors he’d served with over the years. JAMES THOMPSON, he said, was very intelligent and very flexible.

JIM EDGAR was a student of government and much more willing to engage in “protracted discussions.” GEORGE RYAN, like Thompson, was very flexible. PAT QUINN is “very well intentioned.” Faint praise indeed.

And our old friend ROD BLAGOJEVICH? Madigan said it was “confrontation” from the beginning.

* One of the things rank-and-file lawmakers have most complained about in recent years is the way the budget is handled. Mainly, the complaint is that the budget is negotiated behind closed doors by a handful of people and then plopped on lawmakers’ desks at the last minute for their approval.

Madigan explained how that process came about during a protracted session in 1991, Edgar’s first year as governor.

“For no good reason, we kept it up,” Madigan said.

Last year, the legislature went back to a system where appropriations committees hammer out budget details. Madigan said the process will continue this year.

* Madigan has been “the speaker since 1983, with the exception of two wonderful years.”
— Daniels, introducing Madigan to the Elmhurst College audience.

* “At times we said despicable things about each other in public, but we had mutual respect for each other.”
— Daniels, describing his relationship with Madigan. In addition to two years as speaker, Daniels served 18 years as House minority leader.

* “He would really make a very good governor for Illinois. Lee, give it some thought.”
— Madigan, suggesting Daniels run for governor.

* “There was overspending in the past. Many people engaged in that overspending. Not just one or two people. It was many people.”
— Madigan, spreading the blame for the state’s financial problems.

* Now that we are well into the 21st century, the Illinois court system has decided to inch its way into the 20th.

The Illinois Supreme Court has issued rules allowing cameras and recording devices into court sessions on a limited, experimental basis. Illinois was one of only 14 states that still prohibited cameras and recorders in the courtroom during proceedings.

Chief Justice THOMAS KILBRIDE said it adds another level of scrutiny to what goes on in the courtroom, as well as providing a civics lesson so people can see how legal proceedings are conducted. That latter point is a good one. If you’ve ever sat through a criminal trial, you know that judges at the start sometimes admonish jurors not to expect a TV drama, just in case a juror is expecting someone in the audience to leap up and confess to the crime.

Still, there are limits to the civics lesson. You have to assume that the highest profile or most sensational cases are most likely to get full-blown coverage. But there obviously are many important court cases that don’t fit that category. We’ll just have to see if there is a big push to bring cameras and recorders in the courtroom for, say, another lawsuit like when Catholic Charities fought the state over placement of foster children. It was important and got media coverage, but it wasn’t exactly rife with riveting testimony.

Doug Finke can be reached at 788-1527 or doug.finke@sj-r.com.

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